Bristol Rugby head coach Pat Lam said his team did not reach the standard he wants on Saturday despite beating London Scottish 47-26.

Bristol are top of the Greene King IPA Championship, and the only undefeated side in the competition having won six out of six games so far.

Despite that Lam is still striving for better things from his side. After the game he said: “We know we can be better.

“As I said to the boys I appreciate the effort and the most important thing is we got five points.”

Will Hurrell of Bristol Rugby scores a try

“There were lots of tries again. I think the main thing is when you have a game plan, it’s about making sure there are opportunities to score and we certainly had plenty, and there was some quality stuff that we did score."

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Bristol scored seven tries in total as Tom Varndell recorded a hat-trick of tries and Alapati Leiua, Will Hurrell and Rhodri Williams also touched down and the hosts were awarded a penalty try at Ashton Gate. Ian Madigan scored 10 points with the boot, all from conversions, missing just one.

Steven Luatua of Bristol Rugby in action

But the Exiles, who sit second from bottom of the table, still managed to score four tries to leave Lam frustrated.

London Scottish touched down through Craig Holland, Ross Neal, Nick Scott and Gregor Gillanders while Jake Sharp scored six points from the tee with three successful conversions.

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Lam said: “We are disappointed that we let a team come to our home ground and score four tries, through indiscipline, from some poor defence, so there are constant work ons.”

The home fortress the Samoan coach is trying to build never looked like falling on Saturday but Lam doesn't want anyone to even breach the walls.

Steven Luatua of Bristol Rugby offloads

But in his normal philosophical way Lam said: “In terms of the longer plan, it’s good that we are being tested. We’re six from six and we’ve learned some good lessons.”

Bristol now turn their attention to the British and Irish Cup.

And Lam revealed he will give some fringe players a chance to show what they can do. He said: “Without a doubt, we will use the cup competition to give guys who haven’t had much game time a chance. We need players to step up.”

First up Bristol face Cardiff Blues A away before hosting Doncaster on Sunday, October 22.